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Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: NBA, Basketball
James Taylor
Just two days into the new basketball season, the sport has been thrown into chaos as some of its biggest names were arrested in an illegal gambling crackdown.
One case alleges that six defendants, including Miami Heat's Terry Rozier, used insider information to manipulate bets on major platforms.
New York police commissioner Jessica Tisch claimed that in March 2023, while Rozier was playing for the Charlotte Hornets, he told others that he planned to leave early with a supposed injury.
Tisch said that allowed members of the group to make tens of thousands of dollars in profit.
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The second case alleges 31 defendants, including Portland head coach Chauncey Billups, participated in a scheme involving rigged illegal poker games.
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella Jr, said the operation was backed by New York's five Mafia crime families.
There are three defendants overlapping both cases, including former NBA player Damon Jones.
Rozier, 31, is a shooting guard and point guard for the Miami Heat.
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He was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 2015, joined the Charlotte Hornets in 2019, and made the move to Miami in 2024.
Although Rozier did not play in the Heat's opening game defeat to the Orlando Magic, the New York police commissioner had a strong message.
Tisch said: "As the NBA season tips off, his career is already benched. Not for injury, but for integrity."
The indictment relating to sports betting was described by Nocella Jr as 'one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalised'.
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He claimed the defendants exploited confidential information about NBA athletes and teams.
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Head coach and Hall of Famer Billups was the other headline name from the sport who was arrested on Thursday.
Nocella said the illegal gambling case began in 2019, involving wireless cheating technology used to rig poker games across the United States.
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He claimed that players were 'fleeced' out of tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars each game.
The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) released a statement following the arrests.
An NBPA spokesperson said: "The integrity of the game is paramount to NBA players, but so is the presumption of innocence, and both are hindered when player popularity is misused to gain attention.
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"We will ensure our members are protected and afforded their due process rights through this process."
ESPN's First Take host Stephen A. Smith shared his thoughts on the morning show, claiming the investigation was motivated by President Donald Trump's desire for 'revenge'.
His claims were quickly rebuffed by FBI director Kash Patel, who said: "I'm the FBI director.
"I decide which arrest to conduct and which not to conduct.
"That may be the single dumbest thing I've ever heard out of anyone in modern history. And I live most of my time in Washington, D.C.
"It's right up there with Adam Schiff. We arrest people for crimes."